Cal v. Oregon 2.2.3 Photo Essay

Hey, what's that? A basketball game. Sounds like fun. Don't mind if I do! I was not particularly hopeful heading into the MBB game against Oregon on 2.2.3. Oregon was undefeated in the Pac-12 until Wednesday against Stanford.

And now, like the proverbial hornet's nest, they were angry! Thanks a lot, Stanford!

Even though I didn't have high hopes, I knew it would still be a fun time out at Haas. I wasn't alone in thinking that it was worth the trek, even if Cal's season isn't as bright and shiny as it once was. The place was packed. Cal had set up food trucks before the game, so I got out there a bit early to meet some friends and eat some food.

The band was performing with the dance team. There was a huge turn out from spirit for this one:

Remember, you can always make the photo larger by right clicking on it and opening it up in a new tab.

I would have loved to eat at the food trucks. However, there were only 2.5 (one was dessert). And the lines were obscene. So, we left and went up to Toaster Oven on Telegraph instead. Need more food trucks!

Got in just in time to see warm ups:

Then, the National Anthem, delightful lip synced by the entire Cal band. What an amazing job pretending to play they did!

And we're off!

Cal in the first played well, but sloppy. Fast breaks went unconverted. Low percentage shots. :(. Not great, but they did stay in the game against Oregon, setting up opportunities in the 2nd half.

This is a poorly framed shot of Allen Crabbe's thunderous dunk! He had a fast break dunk later in the game that I decided to not attempt a shot on. Just live the moment!

Tyrone Wallace is a great talent. I really love his energy and explosiveness out there. I can't wait to see him continue to develop. Next year, this team should be really, really, really good. Of course, people thought that about this year's team, so you never know. And with Cal fans "Next Year" can become tiring at times. But hey, at least there is "Next Year!"

Thurmanation! A fan had a Thurmanator sign, which was really well done, but a bit too small unfortunately.

Here, Oski was promoting a Bank Of The West dealie where if you waved your Bank Of The West card around you won a free photo with Oski. But you can pretty much always get a free photo with Oski whenever you can find him at the games (which isn't THAT tough to pull off).

Here, the players said what their dream job is. For the majority of them, it was to play pro ball. Bak Bak was somewhat different, though.

Great student turn out for the game. And the Gold Out worked reasonably well. About as well as I think it could have gone!

While the first half was a bit disjointed, the 2nd half was totally different. The first half (of the second half) consisted of a lot of offensive from both teams. Then, Oregon got out to a bit of a lead. I think they had a lead of about 8 points at most. Cal managed to cut that down to 2-4 for most of the rest of the game, though.

I didn't take as many shots of the 2nd half, because I got superstitious. It is like that Bud Light commercial. If I am taking a photo and something bad happens, IT IS ALL ON ME NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! Things got tight at the end of the game. Cal managed to tie it up and get up two. There was some concern about whether Cal should have tried to play for a 2 for 1 at the end, but instead just held the ball for a while and had Solomon take a low percentage two far from the basket.

This game Oregon a last chance, one last possession. They managed to get a wide open three, which rimmed out thankfully. An Oregon player got the rebound and it looked to me like the Cal player fouled the Oregon player. However, in the hubbub of it all no fouls were called. Instead, the refs called a jump ball...POSSESSION CAL!

So, that was exciting. I took this photo of Cal up by 2 with 5 seconds left, knowing full well that we could still screw it up. We're Cal! I just wanted to have it just in case.

Thankfully, everything went smoothly. Cobbs got fouled and the rest is history!

Then, the students rushed the Court. This took me TOTALLY by surprise. I'm not against it, per se. And beating a highly ranked team (esp. with this depressing season) is great! I just didn't anticipate it. But if people are happy, who am I to complain???

And they sure looked happy!

Here is the receipt!

People started to slowly make their way out of Haas as the band played their usual post-game awesomeness. Again, HUGE band turnout there!

Over at Pappy's, they had the post-game show. I think that it is on the radio, not sure. We couldn't really hear anything at Pappy's and they didn't seem to engage the live audience at all. Here, they are interviewing Brandon Smith.

Also, they were reshowing the game on TV there. SPOILER ALERT: Cal wins!

And then, it was off to parts unknown under the gorgeous Berkeley sunset. GO BEARS!